Result complements "-dao" and "-jian"

Two of the most common result complements in Chinese are 到 (dào) and 见 (jiàn). On this page we're only going to be talking about verbs related to the senses ("see," hear," etc.), and for this usage, the two are interchangeable.

Verb with "到" and "见"

Structure

Result complements are a huge topic in Chinese grammar, but you can approach them in stages. The structure you come across the most is a verb with 到 (dào):

Subject + Verb + 到 + Object

What 到 (dào) does is indicate that the outcome of the verb is achieved - what its result is. Without a result complement, the sentence would describe only the action itself. To illustrate, 看 (kàn) "to look" is the action of turning one's head in a particular direction and focusing one's eyes, whereas 看到 (kàn dào)," to see," is the result of your brain taking in the visual input.

The complement 见 (jiàn) is very similar to 到 (dào), and it is used in the same way:

Subject + Verb + 见 + Object

However, there is a difference. 见 (jiàn) is generally only used after verbs involving sense, like 听 (tīng) and 看 (kàn), whereas 到 (dào) can be attached to a large variety of verbs (which we will discuss at a higher level on Tricky uses of "dao").

Examples

• 你 听 见 了 吗 ？ Nǐ tīng jiàn le ma? Did you hear it?
• 你 听 到 了 吗 ？ Nǐ tīng dào le ma? Did you hear it?

• 你 看 见 那 个 帅哥 了 吗 ？ Nǐ kān jiàn nà gè shuàigē le ma? Did you see that handsome boy?
• 你 看 到 那 个 帅哥 了 吗 ？ Nǐ kān dào nà gè shuàigē le ma? Did you see that handsome boy?

• 我 看 见 了 。 (We didn't say what "I" saw; you have to base it on context.)Wǒ méiyǒu kàn jiàn. I didn't see him.
• 我 看 到 了 。 Wǒ kàn dào le. I didn't see him.

Negative form

Structure

Subject + 没 + Verb + 到/见 + Object

As in the last sentence, this structure can be negated using 没 (méi).

Examples

• 你 没 听 见 吗？Did you hear it?
• 我 没 听 见。I didn't hear it.

• 你 没 看 到 那 个 帅哥 吗？Did you see that handsome boy?
• 我 没 看 到 那 个 帅哥。I didn't see that handsome boy.

• 我 没有 看 见 。 (We didn't say what "I" didn't see; you have to base it on context.)Wǒ méiyǒu kàn jiàn. I didn't see him.
• 我 没有 看 到 。 Wǒ méiyǒu kàn dào. I didn't see him.

See also

• "-wan" result complement
• Result complement "-qilai"
• Result complement "-cuo"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Short-term Spoken Chinese: Threshold Vol. 2 (汉语口语入门篇下) (p. 92) →buy
• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (p. 109) →buy
• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课上册） (pp. 205-6)→buy